Many of the loyal remastered Star Trek viewers caught an odd glitch in the showing of Mirror, Mirror this weekend. Just after the mirror Checkov tries to kill Kirk and the next scene with Kirk, McCoy and Scotty in the Captains quarters there is footage of the Enterprise traveling at warp speed, it looks like raw footage from the original (not-CGI) credits. It is totally out of place and of course the old Enterprise footage that wouldn’t be used anyway. Don’t worry, the folks at CBS already know about it and have fixed it for future showings

A Star Trek.com article has been put up to address the concerns with comments from the Okuda’s and Dave Rossi:

We apologize to all of the fans who caught our mistake, and we thank everyone for your interest in Star Trek: Remastered. We love Star Trek, too, and we hope you keep watching!

Trekmovie.com sources tell us that CBS Digital isn’t to blame. Our sources tell us this is an error from Sunset Digital (who clean up the original film elements and insert the new CGI shots). [UPDATE: TrekMovie has learned that the error wasn’t Sunset Digital either…so it remains a mystery as to how this edit happened] This isn’t the first time there has been an editing goof in Trek Remastered, in City on the Edge of Forever there was a missing new Tricorder matte shot.

A second issue with this week’s episode is that an odd film scratch (or some similar abberation) can be seen in the close up shot of mirror universe Spock on the bridge.

Lines that need cleaning upClick for a larger view

Comments

This is kind of like that girl you go out with who then cheats on you……..then u take her back….then she cheats on you again, and u knew it was going to happen but u went ahead with it anyways………………yeah i am close to ending our relationship ST restored……….just one more time………or maybe twice and then WE ARE THROUGH! dun dun dun

I know they are trying their hardest, but this whole project has been a huge disaster from day one. These episodes should not be pumped out on a weekly basis like this, CBS digital should have been allowed, at the very least, four or five episodes to be fully completed before they started airing. That way, there is a buffer zone to allow them to spend more time on some episodes that require it.

What do you say CBS? Can you give your digital team a break? Re-air the finished episodes and let these guys show off what they’re really capable of doing. Last week, we managed to catch a glimpse of some great work. Let these guys earn the respect they deserve, and also allow Star Trek the Quality you promised the viewers.

Whether the treatment was ever promised is irrelevant. You’re missing the point Duck Dodger, the point is that CBS stepped forward and fired up the old hype machine. We were then lead to believe that the project would be of ‘top-notch’ professional quality, but this has not been the case many times over. Re-read my post…I am fully behind CBS digital, because I KNOW that if they were given the time to do their jobs, the product would be sensational. So YES, support CBS digital, but don’t blindly accept whatever is put on your plate, when you know full well that the poor folks at CBS digital are being asked to work their butts off and deliver a half finished product!

…in addition. Try to keep in mind that the bosses at CBS are those who need to make a decision to give CBS ‘Digital’ more time. I get the feeling that a lot of people are not seeing the distinction and just lump CBS into one large body.

Very true Duck Dodger…this is all gravy. I never thought the original series would get this kind of attention….remastered High def pictures AND revamped FX footage? I try to be very VERY aware of that fact when I criticize it….because it’s something I’ve wanted for a long time but never expected to see. It’s all gravy and I’m sopping my bread in it every week, eating it up like a hungry bum at the table in Edith Keeler’s soup kitchen.

I am not all that hung up on the mistakes. I figure they will fix them. I am not all that hung up on the editing. I’m sure the full versions will become available. I think it is great that they are doing them at all.

No matter WHAT the episodes look like, someone is going to complain that some shot wasn’t quite good enough, something wasn’t changed that should’ve been or that something WAS changed that shouldn’t have been. Anyone throwing accusations about work being “rushed” has no idea what making TV and movies is like. EVERY project is rushed. EVERY project is under the gun in terms of time and money. CBS is taking on an enormous and expensive job with a relatively small front end payback. It’s easy for us fans to sit in our basements complaining about this and that while we lick the Cheeto stains off our fingers. But the truth is that not every “flaw” or “glitch” is going to get resolved perfectly. Not every new shot is going to be Oscar worthy. A thousand different things can go wrong each week on these shows between the couple dozen artists and multiple vendors working on the project. It’s amazing they do as good a job as they’re doing. It’s also amazing that when an obvious mistake get made (as in Mirror) made they came out and admitted it and are going the extra mile to correct it. That is freakin’ RARE in this industry.

So, no, this project has NOT been a “huge disaster” just because not everything is perfect to everyone’s satisfaction. This is art made by human beings. Considering the scope, the time frame and the investment — and considering that people are actually watching Star Trek again — this has been a HUGE SUCCESS!

They are really just previewing everything to see how it goes over as well before the full fledge versions are full sale to the public, you know that people read these forums and get all this input from people who care, hopefully they listen and take care of our beloved series and do the best that they can with it. it will probably never happen again, this reserection so it should be done to the best of their ability.

Can someone at least try to see the point I was getting at? I’m not criticizing CBS digital, but rather the parent company for putting them under the gun.

Yes, I’m more than aware that all TV shows and movies are on a tight schedule. I just don’t think they’re under the kind of schedule that ‘CBS Digital’ is under. They’re obviously understaffed and over worked if they aren’t able to spend the time tweaking the quality of their episodes. So, is everyone saying that CBS should continue to run their in-house Digital team into the ground? That certainly isn’t right…and it looks bad for them to have to release half finished work. Come on guys, use your voices and demand to be heard…maybe CBS will pay attention and cut their digital guys some slack. Everybody would win. The digital team gets to present their work as they intended, and we get to see the fantastic work that I know they’re capable of.

Well, the fact of the matter is…they are going back and making changes to the early episodes with their new Enterprise model now in place. They are making these changes to “Mirror, Mirror”, too. To me, I think they are sincere in wanting to get this right, even if it means admitting to problems/mistakes and fixing them up for future viewings (re-runs, uncut versions/dvd’s). I truly think that this treatment is happening because of WHO is on the team and their sincere care for the original series. TOS is MY favorite and always will be, but if I were on a project liek this and had people pointed out something that the team I was on messed up/missed…I’d be going back and fixing if AT ALL possible.

I read that they are redoing some of the stock ship shots, but it seemed that this was only for future episodes. Except for the one mistake in “Mirror, Mirror,” I haven’t read anyone official promising that they would go back and redo the remastered episodes that have already aired.

they could also fixed up the lines that were all over the veiw screens in “Arena” and please “NEW HAND PHASERS FX!!!” It just doesnt fit well together to have all hi-def new fx and then suddenly cut to a horrible hand phaser effect…it leaves a bad taste in the mouth to have both really good and really bad effects all in one show…seriously now…

Replacing the phaser effects with “NEW HAND PHASERS FX”, isn’t that easy. Unlike the space shots created from scratch, the hand phaser effects would have to be painted out and then drawn back in…..a rather time consuming process. Considering that we’ve just been talking about CBS digital being on a TIGHT schedule already, it doesn’t really seem all that logical to demand they have ‘even MORE’ more tossed onto their plates. What they need is one or two more talented people brought on board, and a month of reruns…so they can really spend time getting some episodes banked ahead.

I (for one) think that the update team should stop airing all episodes until Summer of next year. That would give them adaquate time to get their previous aired episodes done right and perhaps even a rest to get the other ones repolished correctly. I honestly don’t see what the huge rush is to see them IF their not done right and they should have been.
Also…how much will it kill CBS in the long run to hire a HUGE team to get this product out and break it down (teams) into their respective areas of work as needed? Now…if this was a one-time showing Ok but we all know
that they plan on selling them to the public. CBS…spend the needed $$

CBS is probably spending a LOT of money already for the remastered Star Trek. Maybe not as much as they’d spend on a Tom Cruise movie, but probably a lot more than most of us get paid in a year or five. As New Horizon points out, it doesn’t seem logical to expect them to spend even more, no matter how much we might demand it.

# 25 – Maybe but considering that once the job is finally done right and sold over countless generations for BIG $$ worldwide then anything that they’ll invest now would be just mere chump change. And IF they do a good job here then that leaves the door open to future restoration and yet more cash in their pockets. Where could they go wrong? By not spending the cash now and taking advantage of the technology thats available to them. The cash flow possibilty seems endless to me….isn’t it after all?

Does anyone know if the CBS Digital team is working from negatives of the finished episodes (that’s my guess) or do they have access to the original, unedited film? That would be ideal because then (I assume) they could more easily correct hand phaser and other “live” effects…like the transporter and disintigration FX. (There were some nasty matte lines around the transporter beam this week.) Otherwise I guess they’ll have to paint out old FX first or paint over top of them. If they have the footage, I’d love to see Trek-movie phaser effects. It alway bothered me that in TOS, most phaser/transporter FX came with a freeze frame before the opticals were added. I’m sure that was a limitation of the technology of the day. Imagine if we could see something in TOSR that looks closer to what happened when Christopher Llyod blasted his gunner in ST III!)

It’s kind of sad isn’t? We get this “gift” of TOSR that no one expected and for the most part, we complain, criticize and ask for more!

No one officially did say anything about previewing but its obvious when they keep fixing things are we watch them as they are being aired and they try to keep improving things like the enterprise and such, so it is important to the those in charge that we are happy with the product. its only logical to assume that they are not done with the tweaks yet.

I think it’s obvious that they are doing their best and that they love Star Trek as much as we do. It is also clear to us that more could be done, but I don’t think it necessarily follows that what we’re seeing is a “preview” or that additional work can or will be done at a later date. If what we’re reading about a tight budget and schedule is true, I don’t think we can assume that more money or time will become available at a later date.

Whichever the case, I am certainly going to get Star Trek: Remastered when it comes out on DVD.

I can’t wait to see what they do this week with the Botany Bay in ‘Space Seed’!

New Horizon: “Can someone at least try to see the point I was getting at? I’m not criticizing CBS digital, but rather the parent company for putting them under the gun.”

You’re speculating that CBS has their team more under the gun than any other typical production and we don’t know that. EVERY show I’ve ever worked on has been a pressure-cooker of time and money. That’s the business. You’re assumption is that the pressure is leading to shoddy work. First, we have no idea what kind of pressure the team is under, if any, so we really don’t know. Second, the definition of “shoddy” is in the eye of the beholder. I’ll say it again, the CBS team could have UNLIMITED time and resources and there would STILL be fans complaining that something wasn’t handled correctly.

New Horizon: “They’re obviously understaffed and over worked if they aren’t able to spend the time tweaking the quality of their episodes.”

You’re taking a mistake — and mistakes WILL happen — and blowing it up into an assumption of being “understaffed and overworked”. Unless you have payroll figures and work schedules, you can’t make that assuption. In the case of the Mirror mistake, a vendor screwed up during the online edit — not hard to do. In fact, it happens ALL THE TIME but on shows that don’t have fans salivating to spot every change and alteration.

New Horizon: “it looks bad for them to have to release half finished work.”

One flub and a scratch in one shot is hardly “half-finished”. These are MINOR problems that will inevitably pop up from time to time in a project of this scale, especially when dealing with 40 year old footage. Perhaps the real issue is obsessed fans blowing up minor issues into a major crisis. I’m just sayin’.

New Horizon: “Come on guys, use your voices and demand to be heard.”

And herein lies the truth. In other words, do things OUR WAY, damn it! Really, no one needs or wants our “demands”. CBS and the artistic team are professionals doing their best. They clearly care about Trek and, given their acknowledgement of the Mirror problem, are as concerned as the fans about producing a quality show. “Demands” implies entitlement and fans are entitled to NOTHING except to watch or not watch. New Horizon, if the show is the “disaster” you believe it to be, don’t watch it. The originals are still available and will remain available forever. Enjoy them. In the meantime, the remastered episodes will continue to have the flaws that imperfect human artists bring. Art is not perfect — especially pop art for profit like Trek. Getting twisted up, angry and upset is such a negative way to experience these shows. I actually LAUGHED when I saw the Mirror flub. It’s not a big deal, especially once you take Trek off the pedastal some have placed it and recognize it as an entertaining, albiet cheesy, 40 year old sci-fi TV show. It’s not a holy relic. And even if it were, the relic still exists.

YOU GOTTA BELIEVE BABY! Maybe they can go back and do other stuff. I just don’t think their schedule lets them get very involved right now.

I was watching Amok Time the other day and I was thinking it would be WICKED COOL if they could do some kind of Vulcan background, but there are like a quadrillion shots to that red background and people are always in front of it (usually fighting!) and isn’t that harder to do? I forget the process (redo?) when they take people out, but how could they do that on their schedule? Here’s hoping!

I’m having a blast watching all the new episodes – I think it’s great with all the new stuff to watch for and also know that the original, unedited episodes are still going to be available as well. The Okudas and CBS are doing a great job, and I’ll take a few slip ups here and there over not having any kind of new Trek at all – I know they’ll have any problems fixed and I’m looking forward to buying them when they come out on DVD.

Okay, there is no way in hell this endeavor is a failure… it’s gotten many old time fans out of slumber and excited. Sure, there has been outright flubs, missed opprotunities, and such… but there has also been improvement, nice surprises, and a renewed interest in shows many of us have seen to death already. And aren’t we forgetting the original intent of this endeavor was just to update “SPACE” shots??? The gripes about somethings are just wishfulness… and that’s not a bad thing by itself, but we shouldn’t get too carried away. Replacing all the hand phaser shots? Come on.. perfecting transporter matte lines? How about painting out Kirks underwear peek-a-boo from several episodes ago, Arena or Mudd, I think? And you know what, if you go look at Episode 4 of Star Wars, there is still a ton of glitches and missed opportunities for fixes that are baffling why they weren’t already taken care of, and that’s from deep pockets Lucas, of course, he like all other media giants, loves to sell us the new improved product every few years! ;)
For me, this has been a fun diversion, and frankly, even the bitching has been amusing. And I hope that the people working on this hear the PRAISE as well as the nitpicks…
I currently DON’T own any Star Trek DVDS. All I have are used vhs TOS film copies. If and when these are released, I’d be mightily tempted to buy them, especially if they do go back and correct the flubs and substandard work. Actually, I’ve been tempted to buy the old ones lately, thanks to this reinvigorating nostalgia.

>>Okay, there is no way in hell this endeavor is a failure… it’s gotten many old time fans out of slumber and excited. Sure, there has been outright flubs, missed opprotunities, and such… but there has also been improvement, nice surprises, and a renewed interest in shows many of us have seen to death already. And aren’t we forgetting the original intent of this endeavor was just to update “SPACE” shots???

-Okay, there is no way in hell this endeavor is a failure… it’s gotten many old time fans out of slumber and excited. Sure, there has been outright flubs, missed opprotunities, and such… but there has also been improvement, nice surprises, and a renewed interest in shows many of us have seen to death already. And aren’t we forgetting the original intent of this endeavor was just to update “SPACE” shots???-

Well, of course it hasn’t been a complete failure. There have been some ‘ok’ things come from it…but overall, they have failed to deliver consistent effects of a professional level of quality. I want to believe in CBS digital, I really do, but if they’re not able to deliver professional quality content on their current schedule, they either need to make up for lost time by re-airing the previous episodes, or hand the job over to a company that CAN deliver the goods. If you’re going to do something, do it well. There are times when the work I’ve seen put on screen looks like something my cheapskate Landlord would do…he would cut down so much paint with ‘thinner’ to save a few bucks, that all the old stains bleed through the paint. Guess what he had to do? Buy more paint, and repaint the whole damn room…without…cutting it this time.

#36: ety3 thanks for the link! Wonderfully weathered look to the old Botany Bay – it really does look like an old space freighter now.
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As for the ongoing discussion about the CBS Digital efforts vs CBS corporate funding, while I hope Okuda and the team are given the opportunity to revisit some of their efforts, I presume that budget realities will greatly restrict that sort of work. Nevertheless, I am in the same boat as TomBot2006 in #35 – I’ve never invested in any Star Trek DVDs, relying upon memories from years of daily reruns in the 1970s to suffice. But this remastered project has indeed awakened this slumbering (and now salivating) fan and I’ll be buying the high-def discs when they come out. But I wince when I consider also having to buy a new player and a better high-def TV to watch ‘em on!

Rushed or not, I’m delighted that we’re getting SOME high-quality improvements in the old girl…it is more than I ever expected considering how the Trek franchise collapsed at Paramount over the last few years.

I know this project started out as just redoing the space shots but I think it will be wasted opportunity if they do not go back and change all the bad and dated effects.
I remember reading somewhere, I think it was on the Star Trek website Dave Rossi said his nephew wasn’t interested in Star Trek cause of the bad effects. So they thought by doing this remastering they would reach a younger generation and be able to get them to tune into this programme now the effects were updated. Obviously it was not the only reason for doing this project but one of them. I just feel if they don’t go back and do all the effects the show will look unbalance effect wise.

You’ll have some great space shots and then you’ll have a rubber looking alien or a puppet. You’ll go from a nice new matt painting of a building with a dramatic sky back to the old sound stage with the flat colored sky that’s obviously in a studio which is meant to be on the same planet surface.
Don’t get me wrong I am loving what they are doing, I am just a bit frustraighted as to what they aren’t doing.

As a big fan of this TOS I have to hope they will do all theses things that other people on here and myself have been asking for eventually get done, but he reality is it might not happen because of either money or time constrains.

Things I would love to see on top of what they have been doing

1. Planet surface to have clouds and back drops
2 Aliens to get CGI make over, still look as they where intended, just animate them more add texture and skin colour.
3. Animate the view screen. On the bridge of the Enterprise
4. (one thing I hadn’t thought of until it was mentioned on her e the other day) Fix the bad hand phaser effects.

I know this would take time and a lot of money but I believe it would be well worth it in the long run. I would rather they took there time over this and got it 100% right than rush it and produce an unbalanced mixed bag of effects. I really hope all these things eventually get done and that this is infact a kind of test run that they are showing us now.

My nephew is the same as Dave Rossi’s he will not watch the original series because of the bad effects, I tried to tell him it was about the stories but he just couldn’t see past the effects. When I told him it was getting a make over he said he would be interested to see it. I know though if he saw the cool space scene then it cut to some cheesy looking alien or dull looking planet surface bad he would soon switch off again. Now I know its not just about getting a new generation of fans, it also for people who have loved it for years to see it afresh. And I love seeing and hearing what they are up to, but if the effects do not get the full works then I don’t know if I could justify buying these on DVD all over again. I do love the original effect and respect them for what they where but now is the time to really show us the 23rd century in all its glory.
I am not trying to slate you CBS, I am just hoping that you will do this right. You wouldnt be destroying the spirit of the show by updating all the effects as long as the stories are unaltered it showing respect. Plus we will always have the show in its original form. so go crazy, sod the cost and lets see what you have got!

As someone who has also wished for certain amendments, over and above what we are currently getting, I absolutely now agree that this wonderfully unexpected update be done with even more attention.

Now I am someone who, I hate to admit, has ONLY JUST bought the original DVD releases, thanks to THIS site peaking my interest again…and I love each now dated episode dearly…BUT…I am suggesting that an OVERALL enhancement, within the bounds of reason, where CERTAIN obviously poor original effects, is surely not asking TOO MUCH when it comes to “setting them in stone” for their High Definition DVD releases is it?

I am saying that the original idea to upgrade this series of Original Star Treks “spaceshots” only, if true, is flawed, and SHOULD include hand phaser effects and backdrops too.

I am generally very EXCITED about what CBS Digital has achieved thus far with it’s updated planets and NEW Enterprise, with it’s new angle shots…although I am one of the camp that likes LOTS of coloured starfields too…

But just to clarify…the team has actually done VARIOUS nice, unexpected touches that may, or may not, have been within their brief, and not necessarily the most obvious in need of work…but these ALL NEW effects have unfortunately only made certain dated effects look even WORSE now when you look at an episode as a whole!

To my mind, we know these are now ABLE to be improved with CGI technology, but the question is really WILL the powers that be put the time, budget, and effort into adding just that little more OOMPH! into this remaster before their eventual High Definition DVD release?

So ANTHONY…I for one would really like YOU to ask that question before the final High Definition DVDs are pressed for posterity…or at least a very long time anyway…ARE we going to get a little bit more than just mainly “spaceshot” improvements?

I would gladly wait a few more years for them to go through each episode and look at ever thing really closely and see what could be updated and make it as good as it can be.
I like the fact the planets are getting a make over to be more representative of STRANGE NEW WORLDS, but surely the planets surfaces should also be in line with this.

I think on the episode “For the world is hollow and I have touched the sky” McCoy makes a comment that the inside of the asteroid looks just like a real planet Surface. SO I hope it really does eventually look like a planet surface as well as all the other sets that where used for a planet surfaces.

There is no excuse for not pulling out all the stops for this project , its well worth the money as I don’t think there is another Television programme out there that could compare to this one and the iconic status it has. If you are worried about changing the effects beyond recognition and annoying the Star Trek purest then what’s the point of this project in the first place because they already hate what you are doing. So PLEASE Don’t do half the Job, take you time to get them right.

By all means get them out each week as you can but please please, please go back and finish this to the highest standard you can.

We all want it right, but there will always be errors…or what some people assume are errors.
Holo… I appreciate your enthusiasm, but you assume they are not trying to do a good job with this? The people doing this I can safely assume are doing their damdest and don’t like to have errors associated with their names. (see apology at the start of the story) and they do have a budget just as we all do.

Micheal… I know they are doing their best and what they have been doing has been absolutely great! I also am aware they are on a budget, I guess I am hoping Paramount or whoever has given them that budget will give them some more to do these things. Its Just going to be a real shame if it looks unbalanced effects wise.

FIXED! They showed Mirror again, 2nd week in a row, here in Midwest, and apparently in other markets too. In this second showing, just 1 wk later, the goof was fixed. Instead of E at warp, we saw a briefer version of the ISS-E orbiting from right to left, a re-use of the same shot that earlier established the pilot-E in orbit. It looked great. I confirmed this with 2 Tivo recordings made of each showing.